The G-20 communique, issued at the end of the Bali Summit on Wednesday, included Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that “today’s era must not be of war”.
At the same time, it recognised that the G20 was not the forum to resolve security issues, while acknowledging that such issues could have significant consequences for the global economy.
“..Prime Minister’s message that this is not the era of war, and that the best way is to return to the path of dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict resonated very deeply across all the delegations and help to bridge the gap across different parties and contributed to the successful outcome of the document,” said Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra at a press briefing on Wednesday.
The joint communique also mentioned reiteration of national positions as expressed in other fora, including the UNSC and the UNGA resolution, adopted by majority votes in March this year, deploring in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
“Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy — constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity and elevating financial stability risks. There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions,” the communique noted.
No direct blame to Russia
While India has been calling for an end to the aggression in Ukraine for long, it has never directly blamed Russia for it. It is also not in favour of imposition of economic sanctions against Russia and has emerged as a major purchaser of crude and fertiliser from the country this fiscal so far.
Speaking on the growing digital divide at a session on Wednesday, Modi said that during its G20 presidency next year, India will work jointly with G-20 partners towards the objective of briding the digital gap between the developed and the developing world.
“The principle of ‘Data for Development’ will be an integral part of the overall theme of our Presidency One Earth, One Family, One Future’,” he said.